With AI-related risks being inherently global in nature, the hope and anticipation is that there will be a suitably robust regulatory environment wherever the technology is deployed, Michael Connor, Executive Director at Open MIC, tells ESG Investor.
“Many companies have global activities, so we need to ensure that if they are applying a higher standard in Europe due to EU regulations, this should be the case wherever they operate to foster greater corporate accountability in the deployment and use of digital technologies,” he says.
As Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), a coalition of faith-based and values-based investors, and OpenMIC, a nonprofit focused on responsible use of digital technologies, explain in their new report, Dehumanization, Discrimination and Deskilling: The Impact of Digital Tech on Low-Wage Workers, a critical element of algorithmic management systems is the monitoring and surveillance of workers in violation of their human rights.
Brought by Trillium Asset Management, which holds shares in Alphabet valued about $150 million, the resolution calls for an independent third party to review Alphabet’s existing whistleblower policy and bolster protections for employees…Trillium worked with Open Mic, a non-profit that helps shareholders craft resolutions to force change at boards, to frame the whistleblower measure. Last year, Trillium’s resolution received about 5% of the vote, but the firm is confident that support will double or triple this year.
The Open Media and Information Companies Initiative (Open MIC) is helping to lead the charge on two of the first-ever shareholder resolutions asking corporations with large ad budgets to reassess their social media advertising practices. The fear, according to these shareholders, is that the money spent on advertising may inadvertently be funding the spread of white supremacy, disinformation, voter suppression, government censorship, and calls to violence, among other concerns.
